


Life in Orbit

by negaprion



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Gen, Movie: Star Wars: A New Hope, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope, Side Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 16:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9449564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/negaprion/pseuds/negaprion
Summary: Ahsoka Tano, forgotten by the galaxy and on the run from her increasingly troubled past, finds herself in the company of familiar friends after months of drifting.  However, on two planets that could not be more different, she finds what she could never have imagined--the children of Darth Vader.





	1. An Old Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! I'm breaking a lot from canon here (or, maybe I am, Ahsoka's storyline is a bit...ambiguous of late) to make things a little neater, because I love my girl Ahsoka. Adding more characters as I go (possibly some Rogue One appearances...). About 2000 words per chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Now and then, she found herself in familiar places. The fluorescent growths of one planet, or perhaps the icy, abandoned spaceports of another. She’d been too long wandering, she supposed, and all stars had started to bleed together. Perhaps it was time to pick one of those planets and settle down. Memories were no longer poisonous. She no longer woke up afraid of something that had happened long ago, and was now the remnants of a particularly bad dreams. She could look down at her hands, lined with work and wear, and not think of childhood nightmares. The past was no longer a trap. She didn’t have to run. She’d found a place with the Alliance, despite the wake of legacy. 

And yet, Ahsoka still found planets full of that residual energy. She’d saved a village here, or climbed that mountain. Fought a war here. Shared a meal here. Nearly died here, or laid awake with her whole future in front of her, with nothing but a war in her way. There were missions, of course, that kept her from becoming too nostalgic. Even after her brush with near death, she kept with the occasional intelligence run. When the Alliance needed a fighter, she was there. It was the least she could do, she figured, age already starting to bite at her heels. After all, there were no more councils, no more knights, and no more masters and apprentices. She had left that life long ago, and it had been eradicated from the order of life before she could find her way back. The Alliance needed her. Or at least that’s what she told herself. She kept the losses buried, the tragedies she watched with practiced eyes. Death was a constant, a harder part of the Force.

But now, Ahsoka was a wanderer again. She’d taken a cargo ship, supplies enough for a trip to the Outer Rim, and a nameless astromech with a faulty drive. Left Yavin 4 at dawn, a flight plan mapped the night before, and barely enough credits in her name. It was time she left. It was time she let herself be lost in space, the way the rest of the surviving Jedi had gone. 

 

Space lost her on a desert planet. She didn’t know why, but she had felt the Force dragging her there as if by heavy rope, and she’d guided her ship down through its atmosphere with the strangest feeling in her chest. She’d felt it before. On the steps of a temple. On the eve of a battle. On the top of a mountain. She shuddered in her seat. She’d almost died then. 

What a sad, vicious feeling. What an old one, and what a sweet one. She hadn’t felt that presence since...no, she told herself, no don’t think of that. Brace your shoulders. Prepare. What a frightening prospect. But Ahsoka was older now, and tired of running. 

She landed outside of the spaceport, twin suns already starting to swim downwards in the hot sky. She didn’t want to run the risk of running across Imperial troops (despite the fact that was in an unmarked ship, and her face was no longer a wanted one). Carefully, she teased the ship down behind a rock outcropping, her astromech whirring and beeping, and the rumble of the ship’s mechanics shaking her out of her seat. 

Her robes, worn and familiar, draped across the back of an unmarked crate in the main cargo hold. Shrugging them over her shoulders, Ahsoka eyed the crate. It had been a long while since she’d opened it. But now, suddenly, in the dark hold of the ship, she felt the familiar tug of her duel lightsabers. A pang of regret in her heart. She reached forward, footsteps uncomfortably loud on the metal floor. Opened the box. Laid her palms, shaking, on the handles. 

Oh, hurry up, something inside her said. She’d always been impatient. 

Ahsoka hooked the lightsabers to her belt, closing the box with a slam, and heading towards the door. The hydraulics whooshed, and she made her way down the ramp, stopping only to pat her astromech on the head. 

“I’ll be back soon,” she said. “Watch the ship.”

It was silent. Ahsoka wished it had any of the sass Artoo had. She hoped that droid was still in service. Somewhere. Somehow. 

This planet was hot. Ahsoka shaded her eyes against the sun, draping her hood over her head. She sighed, and eyed the horizon, sweat already gathering on her brow. 

In the near distance, the rounded hump of a what looked like a hut stood, rising ever so slightly above the flat orange of the sand. She felt the tug again, deep and warm this time, and she lurched forward almost unconsciously. There was a familiarity here, but it wasn’t his familiarity. This one was good, she could feel it. A happier energy, at least to her. 

It took Ahsoka ten minutes to reach the hut. Made of packed dirt, it looked hardly livable, an old white door with an ancient keypad and no windows. She edged forward, her breath heavy even from such a short distance. The heat was nearly unbearable. 

However, before she could raise a hand to knock on the door, it slid open with a creaking whoosh. There was a man in the doorway. An old man, his face weathered and his back stooped. 

And yet, Ahsoka knew those eyes. She felt the Force surge, then fade from her bones, and she reached with shaky hands to take down her hood. 

“Is it really you?” she asked. 

The man did not answer right away. Instead, he gave a small smile, and straightened. 

“I knew you’d come, eventually. Not much escaped you, did it?”

Ahsoka laughed, perhaps a bit too abruptly. 

“You look terrible,” she said. 

“You look older,” he replied. 

“I am,” she said. “Things are different now. We could have used you, you know.”

“I had to leave. There is...something of import here. It’s my task to guard it, so long as I am able.”

Ahsoka laughed again. She could contain herself no longer. She reached forward, and wrapped her arms around the old man. And now she cried. Nineteen years of waiting. Of watching everyone she loved fade away, everything she knew collapse. She held tight, and didn’t let go.

“It’s alright, little one,” Obi Wan Kenobi said quietly. “I'm here.”

 

They talked for what must have been hours. Outside, the twin suns had receded slightly, though they still beat and bruised the sand. However, inside Obi Wan’s hut, it was cool and musty. He handed her a cup of something icy, and settled himself across from her. 

“I know it might be hard to understand,” he said slowly, in that patient voice of his. “But things changed after you left the Order.”

“I figured,” she scoffed. 

Obi Wan smiled. 

“I see your attitude is still intact.”

Ahsoka sighed. 

“Sorry, Master,” she said, and the word felt both rusted and familiar on her tongue. “It’s just...well, we lost everyone, didn’t we? The younglings, the Knights, the Council. They’re all...gone.” She’d felt it. The sudden emptiness, as if a great hole had torn in the very fabric of the universe. As if she had suddenly remembered something dark, and deep, and horrible. 

Obi Wan, however, shook his head. 

“Not all. Some escaped. Some fought, and won. Those lucky few fled, scattering to the farthest edges of the galaxy. Even a Jedi has no hope of outrunning an entire Empire.”

“Who did, if you don’t mind me asking?” Ahsoka’s heart was stuttering in her chest. Alive. It was a startling word. 

Obi Wan leaned back, arms folded across his chest, and Ahsoka noticed he wore the same plain robes as he always had. Some things never change. 

“I do not know them all,” he said finally. “But Yoda did. He is long gone, of course.”

“But why?” Ahsoka was suddenly angry. Didn’t they want to fight back? “Why do you run? Why’d you come to this...horrible planet? We needed you, Master! The Alliance, the survivors. Me. We all needed you.”

Now, Obi Wan’s face was slack, his eyes closed. He sighed. Ahsoka felt a great sadness fill the room. 

“After you left,” he said after a painful moment. “Padme and...Anakin. They grew ever closer as the war raged on. She was Anakin’s sole love. Not even I meant as much to him as she did. Not even you, though he carried your loss with him everywhere he went.”

Ahsoka frowned. This, she expected.

“So, what? What changed? Did they part ways?” A sudden cold filled her chest. Had Anakin been so consumed by grief that he’d turned? She knew the Emperor had twisted him, controlled him, so saturated his brain with fear that he had finally burst with HATE and anger and the sad things that crawled like maggots in the hearts of all living things.

“No,” Obi Wan said. “No, quite the opposite. They were going to have a child.”

The room suddenly reeled. Ahsoka fell back onto her chair, mouth agape. She pictured Anakin, harrowed and sarcastic, full of unbridled emotion. She pictured Padme, righteous and poised, her features soft with worry. 

“But she...she died. Anakin, he--”

“No,” Obi Wan said. “The Emperor did. He used her death as the final break in Anakin’s good. I was there. We battled over the flames of Mustafar. And I’m afraid I won. I could have saved him, but I was so torn with grief I--”

“You thought you could save Padme instead,” Ahsoka finished. 

“I thought him too far gone,” Obi Wan closed his eyes again, and the same sorrow crossed his face. “But it only twisted him more. It was the Emperor who created Darth Vader out of Anakin Skywalker, but I was the fool who stood ignorant and proud, and let it happen.”

There was a heavy pause then, and Ahsoka calmed her thumping heart. He knuckles were yellow around the glass, and she let them relax. 

After a moment, she spoke. 

“And the child?”

Obi Wan opened his eyes. 

“You know Padme died in childbirth,” he said. “But not before she named them.”

“Them?”

And now, Obi Wan smiled.

“She had twins. A miracle. The Force was strong that night, with both the dark, and the light.”

Ahsoka smiled. She felt a rise in her she couldn’t quite place. Twins! The children of a Queen and a Knight, born out of sorrow in the Republic’s final days. But after a moment, she frowned. She didn’t dare ask, but Obi Wan nodded solemnly. 

“They lived. Even now, they live. We separated them, hid them from Vader. He must not know he has children. They are powerful with the Force, even more powerful than him.”

“Well, where are they?” Ahsoka asked impatiently. 

“The girl we sent to Bail Organa and his wife. She was raised as nobility on Alderaan. Now, I believe, she is a diplomat, and an agent of the Alliance.” He chuckled. “A good one, no doubt.”

Ahsoka blinked. 

“Bail Organa?” she said, astonished. “I knew he had a daughter, but I didn’t know she was...well, not his daughter.”

“She’s more his daughter than she is anyone else’s,” Obi Wan said. “And she is safe for now. The Empire suspects her only of aiding the rebellion, nothing else.”

Ahsoka gave a sharp laugh. 

“Oh, yeah. Sounds very safe. What about the other one?”

“The boy is here, with his aunt and uncle on their moisture farm. That’s why I stayed, Ahsoka. He has no one to protect him. His aunt and uncle love him, but they still remember what happened to his father and mother.”

They were silent then for a long while. Ahsoka thought of Bail and his wife, loving the daughter of their closest friend as if she were their own. She thought of Padme’s son, living a life of farming and boredom on the same planet where his father had been enslaved. Both unaware of their parents’ heavy legacy. A legacy that still tormented the galaxy, even years later. 

“Tell me,” she said at last, quiet in the silence. “What are their names?”

Obi Wan smiled. She thought he looked proud, for a moment, or perhaps fond. 

“Princess Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker.”

Ahsoka felt a sudden tug in the Force again. This time, it was bright and loud, swarming  
through her and taking her breath from her lungs. Obi Wan felt it too--she could see it in his face, though he looked more at peace with it. 

“You know what they are to us. To the galaxy.”

She nodded. 

“Hope.”


	2. Luke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka finds herself in need of some fuel, and Ben sends her someone to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little shorter this time. Next update will be long.

Ahsoka awoke abruptly to a sharp thump. She reached instinctively to her side, eyes still blurred with sleep. The cool metal of her lightsabers’ hilts shocked her briefly, before she remembered just where she was waking up. 

Obi Wan had offered to let her stay with him. She had declined, thinking of her abandoned ship. Ahsoka was sure there were scavengers here, or pirates, maybe. There were always pirates. Not even the iron grip of the Empire could squeeze out the dregs of the galaxy. 

No, instead she had camped in the cargo hold of the ship. She’d told the astromech to wake her if she nodded off, but it seemed that it had decided to let her sleep. Whether that was out of the kindness of its circuits or the dysfunction of them, she didn’t know. 

The hot suns were filtering orange light through the front windows by the pilot’s seat, and it was already baking the metal floor of the cargo hold, even one floor down. Ahsoka groaned, dragging herself up. Force, she thought miserably. She hadn’t felt this sore in a while. Maybe next time she’d take up the offer of a proper bed. 

Another thump. Jolting out of her stupor, Ahsoka drew one lightsaber, crouching low. She hesitated then. Should she draw her blade? Chances of an Imperial Stormtrooper finding her out here were slim, if not statistically impossible. This place was the dirt hole of the star system, and besides, she’d landed far enough from the port city as it was. 

No, she decided. It was a scavenger, maybe, or a womp rat. Something small and inconsequential. Something not for a Jedi to handle. 

Well, ex-Jedi, anyway. 

Ahsoka crept forward as the thumps continued. She slid silently towards the ladder leading to the cockpit. Stilled her heartbeat. Felt that familiar, coursing flow of the Force. Silent. It would easy to sneak behind whatever was above, incapacitate it, and move it from the ship before it even knew what was coming. She crept forward more, her fingers starting to ghost over the ladder rungs. 

“Hello?”

Ahsoka froze. The swell of the Force flared suddenly, near sparking in her gut. A human voice. No pirate, she thought. There was a presence here she couldn’t quite place. 

“I know you’re there. It’s okay, I just came to see if you needed help. Ben said there was someone out here.”

Ahsoka breathed. Two options, she thought nervously. One, confront the stranger with lightsabers drawn. The feeling in the Force was just strange enough, just strong enough to make her stand on edge. 

Two, believe him. There was nothing immediately dangerous-sounding about his voice. And Ben. Hadn’t Obi Wan mentioned that name? 

“I’m here,” she called out, pulling her cloak over her belt, obscuring her lightsabers from view. “I’m fine. Might need to refuel, though.”

There were more footsteps. A boy appeared at the top of the ladder, face obscured by a heavy pair of goggles and a floppy hat. He smiled down at her, before sliding down the ladder. 

Ahsoka held her breath. Force sensitive. It radiated off him. The strongest she’d felt since--

“Kind of a junky ship, huh?” the boy was poking around the cargo hold, and Ahsoka realized she’d been standing at the base of the ladder alone for at least a minute now. 

“Hey, no snooping,” she said. The boy ignored her. He kicked at an empty crate. 

“You a smuggler?” he asked. “Ben didn’t say much, just that you’d need some help. Not  
that he tells me anything when I ask him questions.”

“Sorry,” Ahsoka said, snatching another box from the boy’s hands. “I don’t know any Ben.”

The boy frowned. 

“You don’t know old Ben? Ben Kenobi? Oh, no, don’t tell me he sent me here to learn something again.” 

“Kenobi?” Ahsoka started, eyes wide. “Did you say Kenobi?” 

“Yeah,” he replied. “He lives that way. He said you were an old friend of his.”

Oh, Obi Wan, Ahsoka thought, smirking. How clever of you. How very clever. 

“Yes, I know him. I just never heard him called that before. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen him.”

The boy peeled his goggles from his face, narrowing his eyes at her. 

“No one knows Ben,” he said. “He’s a hermit.”

She laughed. 

“I’m sure he is. Now, about that refuel. I’d like to avoid any spaceports,”

He scoffed.

“You came to the right place. The closest thing I know is Tosche Station. I’ll bet you can get fuel there, and any parts if you need them. I can show you if you like. I mean, as long as I’m back by noon.” 

“Plans?”

“Chores.”

Ahsoka grimaced. She thought of library duty in the Jedi temple, hours of monotonous busy work. Something about "focus", and "patience". 

“Ugh. Hate those.” 

The boy smiled again. She watched his face, waiting for some sign of hostility. Oh, she thought, does war change you. 

He looked in his late teens, by the Galactic Standard Calendar, but she couldn’t be sure. She supposed that this planet aged people harshly, judging by Obi Wan’s look. It hadn’t been that long, had it?. She wondered, then, what she had looked like to him. An adult. A soldier, maybe. A stranger. 

“Hello? Are you listening?” The boy was waving a hand in front of Ahsoka’s face, an impatient look on his own. “Do you want me to take you to Tosche Station or not?” 

She blinked. She really had to stop doing that. Spacing out, losing track of time. It was something about this place. This boy. Something inside her was telling her that somehow, this day was important. Special. Something else entirely was telling her to leave, and never look back.

And yet, she did need to refuel either way. There was no decision to make if she was stuck in a dead ship.

“Alright,” she sighed, after a moment. “Sure.”

The boy nodded, and headed back towards the ladder, fixing his goggles back onto his face, and tugging his hat over his head. 

“Alright. I’ve got a speeder outside. It’s small, but you’ll fit.”

Ahsoka grabbed his elbow before he passed. 

“Sorry,” she said. “But I’m not going anywhere with a stranger. You got a name?”

“Right,” he said. He put one hand forward, smiling again. “I’m Luke. Luke Skywalker.”

Ahsoka’s heart went cold. That feeling in the Force. She had known it. Had felt it once, when visiting Bail Organa, his daughter playing nearby with her mother. Had felt it every day for years. 

“Nice to meet you, Luke,” she said, her throat suddenly tight. “I’m…” She ran through names in her head. Ashla, perhaps. Or just Tano. No, those felt wrong. Too steeped in the past. Too recent. Too different. “Ahsoka.” 

“Nice to meet you too, Ahsoka.”

As they left the ship, Ahsoka couldn’t help but hear the same words in Anakin’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! More Luke, Obi Wan, and, in a few chapters, some Leia coming up next.


	3. Tosche Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka revisits the past. Luke wants to know more about where she came from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More canon used very liberally here. Hope you enjoy!

Tosche Station was only slightly less dejected than Obi Wan’s hut, Ahsoka decided. A few faded brown structures, a few folks in the same beige desert-wear that Luke wore milling around, rusted droids hopping alongside them. Luke parked the speeder behind a dune-shaped building, dust pulling up in lazy clouds around them. 

“Hold on,” he said, pushing his goggles off and hopping out of the pilot’s seat. “I’ll go see if I can find some fuel cells. Something tells me you don’t really want to be seen here, do you?”

Ahsoka shaded her eyes with a hand. She couldn’t help but smile.

“And what makes you think that, Skywalker?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Cargo ship, but no cargo. Nice clothes, but not too nice.” He pointed to her side. “And you’ve got weapons I haven’t seen before. What are those? Not like any blasters I’ve seen.”

Ahsoka yanked her cloak over the lightsabers. She shouldn’t have taken them out. She shouldn’t have even brought them. If anyone here saw--

“It’s fine. I get it. No more questions,” Luke was saying. He looked upset. Disappointed. Ahsoka felt a twinge of guilt. “Just wait here with the speeder, will you?” 

She watched him go. When she was sure he was gone, and no stray people were near the speeder, she lowered her cloak and sighed, hands already ghosting back over her lightsabers. 

This lightsaber is your life. She scoffed. Her life. Whatever it had been before, now it was just a series of painful memories and scorched failures. Just more things to keep her awake at night, when everything felt closer, and twenty years felt just one sad yesterday away. 

She felt her fingers moving ever so closer to powering up the blades. Force, she thought, there was nothing so pure as the feeling when she built her first lightsaber. All that energy, focused down into something so small she could hook it on her belt. Beautiful too, she supposed, if you thought like that. She certainly had. 

There were no bloodstains with a lightsaber. No messy wounds. No gratuitous death, if you were trained. It was unintentionally anonymous. But it was still a weapon, she reminded herself, pulling her hand away and slumping back into the speeder’s passenger seat. A weapon she’d killed with many, many times. 

After ten more minutes, Ahsoka’s patience started to wear thin. It was hot out here, and she’d spent months in space, with the most light she was getting coming from the knobs and switches in the cockpit of her ship. Besides, she wanted to stretch her legs. Explore a little. Get used to being planetside, if only for a short while. 

She swung her legs over the edge of the speeder, and hoisted herself up, feet hitting the dirt with a soft thump. The speeder hummed slightly, and drifted up with the loss of her weight, but stayed anchored. She patted its side absentmindedly, and dragged her hood up over her head. 

“Alright,” she said to herself. “Let’s see what this junkpile has to offer.”

.....

She found Luke inside one of the buildings. He was behind a glass partition, talking to a girl with long brown hair, who looked around the same age. Ahsoka ducked to the side, pretending to examine some junky droid parts scattered on a low table. 

“Are you sure?” the girl was saying, voice hushed. “It could have been anything, Luke. I mean, why would any Imperial ships come out here?”

“Because of the Alliance, Camie! It must mean they’ve gotten even farther. It must mean they’re getting stronger.”

The girl, Camie, frowned, eyes flitting towards Ahsoka. 

“Don’t talk like that,” she said. “If you wanted to be in space battles, you should have left for the Academy with Biggs. I know you wanted to. You two did everything together.”

“That’s cruel,” Luke snapped. “You know I can’t. Uncle Owen would never let me.”

Camie sighed. 

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said, pushing past Luke. Ahsoka backed up, turning her hood. She didn’t want Luke to think she’d followed him. That she distrusted him, or worse, was worried about him. Skywalkers hated that. She knew it all too well. “I’ll tell Fixer you said hi. Stay out of trouble, Luke.”

Camie left, brushing past Ahsoka as she went. Luke didn’t move for a minute. Then he turned, sighing. 

“I know that’s you, Ahsoka.”

She froze. 

“Sorry?” She tried, already knowing it had failed. But when she turned, Luke wasn’t angry, or upset. He stood in the threshold of the partition, one fuel cell under his arm. 

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but Ben trusted you. You aren’t from here. You’ve never been here. I know you’re not Imperial, and I know you’re not a pirate, or a scavenger. Tell me, Ahsoka,” he said, taking a step forward. “Who are you? I mean, who are you really?”

Ahsoka felt the swell in the Force again. It ebbed at the back of her head, tugged at her, gnawed at her tongue. But still, she sighed. 

“I’m no one, Luke. Just a washed up drifter. I knew Ben a long time ago, but I’m not the same person I was, and neither is he. There’s nothing special about me. I’m not a soldier, I’m not a pilot, or a merchant, or a mechanic. I’m not...anything.”

Even as she said it, she felt the words sink like teeth into her conscience. It wasn’t just the lies, or the silence that followed. She knew she was lying, but it didn’t hurt anymore, like an ache she’d grown used to, or a bone healed wrong long ago. 

No, it was Luke’s expression, suddenly cold and dejected, that made her step back, guilt tiding at the back of her throat. She thought of apologizing, but Luke was already leaving, shoving the fuel cell into her arms as he passed. 

“I’ll drop you off on my way back,” he said shortly. “Tell Ben if you need me to fix anything for you.”

And with that, Ahsoka was alone again. 

...

 

Back in the belly of her ship, the suns set and the metal no longer warm beneath her touch, Ahsoka laid her lightsabers out on floor. She knelt before them, hands on her knees, and let her eyes close, trying to feel where she was in the room. The dull outline of the empty crates. The shuddering trace of the hull, the sand outside, the soft beeping of her astromech, patiently waiting in the corner. Her own energy, Force-heavy, broiling impatiently in the stagnant room. 

Patience, she reminded herself. The words sounded a lot like Obi Wan’s in her head. Ahsoka let her mind relax, the room vanishing, until all she was was a bundle of sifting midichlorians, a shapeless entity in a dark, blank space. 

She made it ten minutes before the memories came back. 

Anakin, his back to the Jedi temple, orange and red light painting his silhouette a sinister shade she could only notice looking back. 

Barriss, proud and angry, eyes finding Ahsoka’s as she was dragged from the temple. A different memory of her, then. Eyes soft, hands clasped over Ahsoka’s, the light from the sun filtered down in crooked slats across her nose. She was smiling. This hurt more. 

Anakin again, this time in hologram form. Obi Wan beside him, a hand on his shoulder. Laughing. 

Luke’s face, still new in her memory. He hated her here, and his hatred was familiar in its hue.

Now, fire. Now, blaster shots, scorch marks on the ground, suddenly very real and heavy beneath her. Someone’s voice (was it Barriss? Anakin?) shouting her name, before the ground transformed into stone, and stone into lava, lava into nothingness again, and her name grew louder and louder and LOUDER until--

Ahsoka’s eyes jerked open. Her lightsabers, hovering in front of her, crashed to the floor of the ship, and the sound startled her. Suddenly, the quiet felt peaceful, instead of lonely. She let herself fall back onto her knees, shoulders slumped forward, as she scrubbed a hand across her jaw. 

She didn’t meditate much anymore. There was too much chaos behind her for her to find any solace in void. 

With a sigh, Ahsoka gathered her lightsabers, carefully clipping them onto her belt once more, the weight both comforting and accusing, and settled back against the wall of the ship. 

Tomorrow, she thought, already drifting off into a restless sleep, she’d find Luke again. Tomorrow, she’d tell him the truth, whether Obi Wan willed it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! More exciting plot to come next chapter, as things start to diverge from canon a little more. Thanks for reading!  
> (Camie Marstrap was one of Biggs' and Luke's friends in the deleted Tosche Station scene. Release the footage, George. We know you have it.)


	4. A New Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi Wan and Ahsoka plan their next move. Meanwhile, a battle on Scarif throws a wrench in both Darth Vader and Leia Organa's plans.

She dreamed of nothing for the first time in weeks. She wasn’t sure why, or how, but when she awoke, she felt the best she’d felt in a long while. 

It was still dark out. Ahsoka rolled over, folding her sleeping cot and tucking it behind a crate. Her astromech beeped, and wobbled over towards her. She realized she’d never bothered to name it, or even try and figure out what it was called. 

“Hey, buddy,” she said softly, patting it on it’s round top. It was a few models older than Artoo had been, and was a dusty red. “What’s your name, huh?”

It beeped despondently. She huffed a laugh. 

“Yeah. Me, too.” 

This time, she packed a small bag before heading out. Some rations, some extra clothes--just in case she needed to stay closer to the settlements. She realized, half out the door, that she didn’t even know where Luke lived. 

“Alright. Easy enough.” Ahsoka closed her eyes, stilling her breath. She tuned out the whipping of the wind against the sand, the tinny pings of rocks hitting her ship. If she could just reach out far enough, she was sure she could feel him with the Force. After all, he had the strongest connection she’d felt since...well, since his father. 

It was desolate for several miles. At least, in front of her it was. She felt the warm tinges of some small animals, maybe, or some scrappy desert plant (though she doubted that anything really grew here), but nothing else. 

But when she turned to the right, eyes still closed, a presence smacked into her, almost knocking her back. Ahsoka wrenched her eyes open, just as a large shape barrelled towards her. 

Instinctively, Ahsoka leapt to the side, the shape missing her by mere inches. They were humanoid, she noticed, heart ramming into her throat. Face covered, and holding what looked like a long, barbed spear. 

“Damn it!” She dodged another blow, ducking low, sweeping her foot under their legs. They gave a guttural shriek, and stumbled back, but didn’t fall. 

Before she could stop herself, she had her lightsabers in each hand, her stance low and offensive. The vibration of the blade in her palms send a shiver of adrenaline down her back, and she poised herself, one lightsaber raised. 

The figure paused, spear raised. They stood there a moment, eyeing each other in the fading dark of dawn. 

Then, the figure lurched forward, shrieking again, and Ahsoka leapt to meet them, blades crossed. The spear sparked as it met the humming crystal glow, before falling into two pieces in the figure’s hands. 

But the figure didn’t cease. It pulled back, slipping under her arm, and jabbed one severed spear into her side. Ahsoka cried out, the cut shallow, but stinging. She gritted her teeth. Adrenaline roared in her ears, and she cut forward again, more vicious than before. 

“Ahsoka, wait!” She heard the voice in her head before she heard it out loud, and it stopped her short. The figure was prone on the ground, one hand sliced neatly from the wrist. They shrieked once more before dragging themselves away, hand left abandoned at Ahsoka’s feet. Sweat dripped down her forehead, and she whipped around, lightsabers already lowering. 

Obi Wan stood perhaps ten feet away, hood raised. She couldn’t quite see his face, but she could feel his remorse even from here. She let herself feel guilty for a moment, before sliding her lightsabers back into her belt, and straightening. 

“You shouldn’t use those here,” Obi Wan sighed, lowering his head as he approached. He put a hand on her shoulder, brow furrowed. He looked, to her, much older than she’d noticed before. “It’s not quite so secluded as you may think. The Empire has its arms outstretched even in the Outer Rim.”

“Who was that?” she asked. “They wore a mask, I didn’t make out their face.”

“A Tusken Raider. They live in these dunes. Dangerous, even for a Jedi.”

Ex-Jedi, she thought, but she just nodded. 

“Didn’t think anything could live out here,” she said instead. 

Obi Wan didn’t answer. Instead, her searched her face quizzically. 

“Ahsoka,” he said. “There’s something you aren’t telling me.” 

Ahsoka met his eyes, a twinge of her old rebellion swelling inside her for a moment. But she sighed instead, and reached up to rub grit from her eye. 

“I met Luke yesterday,” she said. “He had a lot of questions.”

Obi Wan chuckled. 

“He always does, that boy. He found you a fuel cell or two, I presume?”

“That’s not the point, Master,” she retorted, louder perhaps than she intended. “Why haven’t you told him anything? He has a right to know, and besides, it’s dangerous to keep him in the dark. And for that matter, does Leia know? Do Luke’s aunt and uncle know? Bail and Breha?”

Now it was Obi Wan’s turn to sigh. An unintelligible look shadowed his face. 

“Ahsoka,” he started, softly. He paused. The suns had begun to rise again. And the wind was dying down, heat started to creep over the sand in wobbly waves. 

Obi Wan looked up then, a new look on his face. 

“If we must,” he said, hand back on her shoulder. “We will tell them. I fear danger approaching. Leia may be in trouble. There was disturbance in the Core. A Rebellion unplanned.”

She knew, somehow. Had felt it. Something big was happening, somewhere. Perhaps this is why her sleep was dark, undisturbed. She’d trained herself to block such feelings, after the years of sleepless nights and aching days.

“What do we do?” 

“What we can. I expect we’ll have news sooner than we expected. For now, however, I advise you come back with me. Tusken raiders move in groups. They’ll be back soon, and I’d rather you not approach them so aggressively next time.”

Ahsoka nodded briskly, looking back towards her ship. 

“I’ve got an astromech,” she said. “It could be useful.”

“You’d best bring it with us. Hurry, now.”

Ahsoka, mind racing, followed his instructions. 

.....

By the time they’d returned to Obi Wan’s hut, Ahsoka had vowed to herself never to return to Tatooine. So this is why Anakin had been so...outspoken about sand. It really did get everywhere, and as she tapped the bottom of one boot held gingerly out of a window, she decided she hated it too. 

“You get used to it,” Obi Wan said, lowering himself into a seat and watching her struggle with her sandy shoes with a small smile. 

“I’m sure you do,” Ahsoka retorted, pulling her boot back on with a huff. “If you stay here long enough. But I don’t mean to vanish for nearly twenty years and turn into some kind of kindly village wizard.”

Obi Wan laughed.

“Oh, you don’t, do you? And what exactly were you doing in the Outer Rim, then? Not an Alliance mission, I presume.”

Ahsoka went silent. No, she thought, it hadn’t nearly been anything so noble. She was just looking for somewhere empty, somewhere void of memory or familiarity or conflict. Everywhere she went, she brought her past with her like a persistent plague. Sometimes, Imperials came with it. Ahsoka eyed the sky outside the window, the distant streak of a starship blinking in the mass of blue. She wanted to tell Obi Wan that she was just tired. Tired of running, tired of hiding, tired of fighting. Tired of the endless maw of space, which she had once found so comforting in its anonymity. But she could not make herself say anything, and instead, she came to sit by him.

“No,” she said after a while, feeling strangely like a child again. If she closed her eyes, they could almost be sitting cross-legged across from one another on the floor of the Jedi Temple. “No, that’s not it. I was...running, I suppose.”

Obi Wan hummed. 

“So was I,” he said. “But we all have paths, and mine brought me here. I had someone to protect. You, on the other hand, have one a little more complicated than mine.” He looked at her now, a seriousness settled into his eyes. “You’re right, Ahsoka. I cannot hide Luke from his path any longer. He and his sister are the galaxy’s last hopes.”

“Then we tell him,” Ahsoka said. “Right now. We can bring him to Alderaan. He could meet Bail and Leia, and we could explain it to them both.” Anakin’s children, she thought, and Padme’s. How strange it would be to see them together. Would they look alike, standing next to each other? Would they look more like their parents to her then?

“No, I don’t think that’s the wisest plan,” said Obi Wan, rubbing his chin absentmindedly. “The Emperor already suspects Leia and Bail. Alderaan will be watched closely. We would never make it through their gauntlet with the two of us. Vader will sense it.”

“Then I’ll go,” Ahsoka was leaning forward now, excitement creeping its way into her veins. What a strange old feeling. “They aren’t looking for me, not anymore. I’ll tell Bail and the princess, set up a rendezvous. I know places even Darth Vader won’t find.”

After a moment, Obi Wan sighed. He lowered his hand, and reached to clasp Ahsoka’s eyes dark. 

“There’s a darkness coming, Ahsoka,” he said. “If you go now, you may be caught up within it. Is that really what you want?”

She thought of standing on the steps of the Temple, the orange-smog sunset blotting out Anakin’s expression as she turned her back to leave. She thought of the towns she’d left when running. The planets she’d abandoned. Her fake grave, where her old lightsabers still lay. 

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “If this is how we find freedom, I’ll do whatever it takes.” 

Now, Obi Wan smiled again, though it sounded almost sad. He shook her hand in his, and laughed. 

“That’s the old Ahsoka I knew,” he said. “Then it’s decided. You’ll go to Alderaan first. Tell the princess we will meet her there shortly. I will handle Luke and the Owens.”

Ahsoka nodded, already standing, and began to drag her cloak back over her shoulders. She would leave immediately, then. She leaned down to pat her astromech on it’s dusty dome. 

“I’ll send you a message when I arrive,” she said. “Won’t be too long. I promise.”

“I don’t doubt you,” Obi Wan answered, standing to meet her at the door. Stooped slightly as he was now, Ahsoka was almost his height. It was a strange and melancholic feeling. Age had changed them both. “Ahsoka, be careful. These are dark times.”

“Hey,” she grinned, ducking out of the doorframe, one hand curled around the edge of her hood. “It’s me.”

.....

The Tusken raiders had left her ship mostly untouched. She hadn’t brought any real cargo, and the ship itself was mostly useless except in transit. By the time she’d done a full inventory, she’d only tallied the loss of a few spare tools. 

Her astromech beeped nervously as she swung up the ladder and into the cockpit. It bumped against her legs, warbling. 

“It’s okay, buddy,” she said, looking down at it with a grin. “Hey, maybe I’ll find you a good repair service on Alderaan, huh? You could use a good cleaning.” She didn’t know who had owned the droid before her. Hell, she didn’t even know what kind of memory it still had stored inside of it. She’d never bothered to check. 

Now, she punched in the coordinates, a new thrill building inside her as she watched the cockpit light up. This was new. She could feel the Force around her, and, for the first time in a while, it felt neither weary nor insidious. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa going to change everything. She could feel it, sense it, imagine it. 

Just as quickly as the joy came, however, it started to drain. These were Anakin’s children. What would happen if the Emperor did find them? If she messed this mission up, too? 

(And what of Darth Vader? Would he know to look? Would he care?)

Ahsoka shook her head, and scrubbed the last of the dust from her forehead. She didn’t have time for those thoughts. She had a job to do. She looked back down at her astromech.

“Hey,” she said. “What’ll we call you, huh? I had a friend like you, once. We called him Artoo. What’s your name, little guy?”

It chirped again, and wobbled on its chunky legs, the metallic red paint around it’s ports chipped and faded. 

Ahsoka laughed. 

“No name, I guess. That’s okay. I’ll just call you Buddy for now. Easy to remember.”

If Buddy had any qualms, it didn’t voice them. Ahsoka patted its head again, and spun back around in her seat. 

Above her, Tatooine’s twin suns burned in a pale sky. Beyond that, emptiness. Ahsoka grinned. 

“Setting course for Alderaan,” she said. Buddy said nothing. 

For the first time in a long while, Ahsoka didn’t mind the silence. 

....

Across the galaxy, Scarif burned. On a beach surrounded by the dead, a man and a woman waited for the flames to engulf them too, as it had their friends only moments earlier. Perhaps, they thought, someone had escaped. Perhaps, they hoped, one of their own had gotten out. 

The man looked up towards the sky. Pillows of light bloomed around TIE fighters and X-Wings alike, and above them all, the dark shadow of the Death Star hung like a poison cloud. He closed his eyes. Their job was done. 

Leia Organa looked down at the disc in her hand, mind racing. If she was to ensure the plans made it back safely, they could not leave with her. They might have escaped Vader for the moment, but he was approaching fast, and she knew it was only a matter of time before they, too, were boarded. 

There. Her father’s droids, just one hallway away. A little R2 unit, and a gold protocol droid. Leia smiled. Perfect. The scanners wouldn’t pick them up on any sweep. If she could just get them the plans, and an escape pod, before--

An explosion rocked the corridor, and Leia lurched forward, slamming into the wall with one shoulder. She winced, the blare of the ship’s alarms suddenly deafening. He was here. She had to hurry. 

“Hey!” she shouted, as another explosion sent her and the droids tumbling in the opposite direction. “Come here! I have a mission for you two!”

The R2 unit beeped noisily, rolling forward despite its companions complaints. Leia held the disc up, and put a hand on its dome. 

“Keep these safe, you hear me?” she whispered. She could hear the synchronized steps of Stormtroopers somewhere behind them. “I’ll record a message on them, but only play it for one person, alright? You have to make sure these plans get off this ship, no matter what.”

The R2 unit beeped again, once this time, and unfurled a section of its frame, taking the disc. 

Alright, Leia thought. Here’s goes nothing. 

“General Kenobi,” she began. “Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now, he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour.”

She paused. Another explosion now, much closer. Steeled herself again. 

“Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re our only hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting to diverge a lot more from canon here. Thanks for reading!


	5. Asteroids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka receives a mission of dire importance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slightly delayed and shorter update. I'm writing the chapters in real-time now, and I've got a lot of film projects on my hands right now, but I'll try to churn one or two out a week from now on!. Hope you enjoy! :)

For a long time, Ahsoka dreamt only of faces. She did not know why. She hadn’t seen the temple when it fell, and had a harder and harder time remembering the voices of her peers. Some people, she did not forget--Plo Koon’s restrained chuckle, Shaak Ti’s stern glance, Mace Windu giving her calm advice, even Jocasta Nu, greeting her with warm eyes after the coldness of the Jedi Council. And Barriss. Always Barriss. In the quiet, warm moments, before the chips in the paint and the unravelling of the Jedi Order. Sunlight filtering through the slats in the window, her stifling a giggle as Ahsoka levitated things around the room.

Some people, she forgot easily. The younglings who trained besides her when she was small. The names of some clone troopers, even. 

But she saw faces. Hundreds of them. Sometimes, they spoke. Angry words, desperate words, painful words. Shouts that seemed to cut a rift through the Force, and turn Ahsoka’s blood so cold, that she would wake up shivering, her breath visible in front of her. Sometimes, they were silent. These nights were worse. 

After a while, these dreams faded, replaced by nightmares of the more usual variety. Ahsoka couldn’t say she missed them. And yet, still, she found herself desperately trying to reconstruct the faces in memory. Soon, however, the memories were just replaced by the dream-selves, their blankly familiar faces filling her head with nothing but cold. 

....

Alderaan was even more beautiful than Ahsoka had remembered, even as the palace guards aimed their blasters between her eyes. Green, everywhere. She breathed in deep, her lungs almost complaining at how fresh the air was, even here, in the docking bay, the smell of fuel everywhere. Tatooine really had done a number on her. She wondered, briefly, how dusty she must look. 

“Ahsoka!” Bail came cutting through the huddled group of guards, sounding much more urgent than Ahsoka would have liked. Breha was steps behind him, her own expression taut with worry. He pulled her into a hurried hug, and when he pulled back, his eyes had darkened.

“I’m here for Leia,” Ahsoka said before he could speak. “I’ve spoken with Obi Wan. I know the truth. We decided--”

“No time,” Bail cut her off. “Leia’s just intercepted a crucial piece of information from the rebel spies on Scarif. But Vader’s destroyer is fast on her tail. If he gets her…” he looked away briefly, and scrubbed a hand across his jaw. 

“I know,” she said. “I’ll go help her. I won’t let you down.” She would have to wait to deliver Obi Wan’s message. If she could get Leia to a safe location, a good distance from Vader’s reach, then send word to Obi Wan and Luke on Tatooine. 

“You’ll need a crew,” Bail was signaling to some of the guards. “Some weapons.”

“No,” Ahsoka said. “The bigger the crew, the harder it is to get away quickly. Although,” she turned, eyeing one of the ships docked nearby. “I like the look of those.”

“Of course. Take anything you need,” he said. Breha had joined them now, and Ahsoka realized she had never really seen Leia’s adoptive mother up close. The woman gave her a tiny nod. Ahsoka nodded back. 

It took barely ten minutes for her ship to be prepared. The docking bay, a whirlwind of activity, suddenly become a ghost town. Bail and Breha stood alone, arms around each other, as Ahsoka climbed into the cockpit. Buddy was already there, his round top spinning as he warbled at her. 

“Ahsoka!” Ahsoka paused, hands still on the pilot’s helmet. She looked back down at the Organas. 

Breha had detached herself from Bail, one hand raised to touch the side of the ship. Ahsoka realized her hand was shaking. 

“Bring her back to us,” Breha said, her voice soft and raw. The hand stilled. “Please, bring my daughter back.”

“I will,” Ahsoka said. She lowered the helmet down, Breha’s face warping briefly in the curved visor. The queen’s gaze had not broken since Ahsoka had arrived, but now, she looked back at her husband, a small smile on her lips. Sad, but beautiful, Ahsoka thought, though she did not know where she had found the words. 

“I know.”

As Ahsoka lifted off, Bail and Breha’s forms becoming smaller and smaller, then vanishing in the mass of white and green beneath as she rose above Alderaan, she felt a familiar coldness creep into her, as if the cockpit was flooding with seawater. She gave the planet below her one last glance. 

What had Obi Wan said, before she had left? Dark times were coming. Shuddering, she punched in the coordinates Bail had given her, and prepped herself for hyperdrive. 

The last she saw of Alderaan was a blur of color, then the white stripes of stars sliding by, then nothing at all. 

....

She felt it before she saw it. The wave of fear, then a wrenching silence, as if a part of her subconscious had vanished completely. 

“No,” Ahsoka’s heart raced. “No, it can’t--” But she knew. She had felt this emptiness before. Alderaan was gone, and with it all it’s people. 

No, she thought, gritting her teeth against the wetness gathering in her eyes. Not all. Leia. She thought of the promise she’d made to the Organa’s just hours ago. Breha’s eyes burned into her skull. Bail’s desperate hand on her shoulder. Gone. 

Ahsoka veered out of the path of the new asteroid field. Pieces of Alderaan, she reminded herself. She shuddered, suddenly very cold. This was the Empire’s doing. 

Just as suddenly as the Force had rippled, the ship’s comm let out a wave of static. 

“Unidentified vessel, identify yourself immediately.”

“Blast!” Ahsoka cursed under her breath. She peered out the cockpit. Sure enough, two TIEs flanked her sides. She slumped back in her seat. The Alderaanian ship didn’t have weapons. They were a peaceful planet, at least politically. 

“Identify yourself or be boarded,” the Imperial sounded impatient. Ahsoka slammed a palm into the comm. It didn’t break. Buddy beeped anxiously behind her. 

“I know, I know,” she mumbled. Could she outrun them? No, she decided. She wasn’t any sort of ace pilot, and besides, this ship was built for diplomatic missions, not open space warfare. 

And that’s what this was. Open space. The remnants of Alderaan floating around her like so much flotsam in a dead sea. If she could hide behind one...no, that was too risky. The TIEs were right on her tail now, close enough for her to feel the Force energy of the pilots. 

“This is your last warning. Identify yourself immediately, or be boarded. Resistance will be met with force.”

“Oh, go shove it, Buckethead,” Ahsoka rammed her elbow into the comm again. This time it buckled under the pressure, sparks zipping into the cockpit.

There. Straight ahead. A small moon, just outside the reach of the asteroid field. Had that been there before? Ahsoka shook her head, heart now battering her chest. If she could make it to the moon before the TIEs, she could lose them on the surface. Or, at least, she’d have an advantage on land. Blasters and poor aim were no match for a lightsaber, let alone two. 

“Screw it. Hold on to something, Buddy. We’re leaving.” 

It took the TIE fighters a good few seconds to follow, Ahsoka noticed smugly. This ship wasn’t half bad. She focused on the moon, growing ever closer. The red beams of the TIEs blasters shook the cockpit, and she hear Buddy shriek behind her. 

“You okay?” she shouted back, swerving sharply to the left to avoid a particularly accurate blast. A chirp answered her, and she grinned despite herself. “That’s the spirit!”

Ten more seconds. The moon grew larger and larger, the asteroids thinning. One of the TIE fighters veered off, spinning wildly before slamming into an asteroid, sending a wave of flames against the back of Ahsoka’s ship. 

Yes! She was nearly there, just seconds away. If only she could--

Ahsoka went cold. There was a terrible feeling here. She knew this feeling. She remembered like a recurring nightmare, like a bad flu she couldn’t shake. 

He was nearby. And the moon--no, the space station--too large, loomed dark in front of her as the tractor beam suctioned onto her ship. Panic crawled into her throat, breath suddenly heavy and coarse. She slammed into the controls, flipping switches, pulling levers, but it was no use. 

Ahsoka felt the presence start to stifle her, and she pushed back in her seat, knuckles paling as she wrapped her hands around her lightsabers. Guilt, then fear, then anger. She gritted her teeth, shaking her head, trying to dislodge the wave of red dizziness overcoming her. She had to focus. Leia was here, somewhere. More importantly, Vader had her, and she couldn’t imagine any good was going to come of that. 

Leia’s father. No, she thought, a swell of something in her heart. Not her real father. Her real father had died on Alderaan, his last action to save his only daughter. She couldn’t let him down. Not him, not Breha, not Padme, not Obi Wan, not Luke. 

She steeled herself as she landed her ship in the docking bay, the thumps of Stormtrooper boots surrounding her. As the cockpit glass rose, hydraulics hissing, she twisted to face Buddy, silent in his socket. 

“Take these,” she said, shoving her lightsabers forward. “Hide them. I’ll need them later.” He whirred gently, and a compartment popped out of his side just as hands yanked on Ahsoka’s collar, and she was pulled forcefully from the cockpit, legs banging into the sides of the ship with a painful crack. 

“A rebel?” the Stormtrooper tossed her to the ground, blaster trained on the back of her head. Ahsoka bit down the contempt rising like bile in her throat. She needed to keep herself alive. She needed to find Leia. 

“Doesn’t look like it. She’s not wearing any marks. Wait--” 

The Stormtrooper in front of her paused, and leaned forward to bang a gloved fist on the side of her ship. 

“Alderaanian,” he said. “What’s a Togruta doing in a ship like this?”

A sharp pain smacked into her side. The Stormtrooper with the blaster was kicking her ribs. 

“Who sent you, scum?” He kicked out again, but Ahsoka rolled to the side, leaping back to her feet. 

“Eat bantha fodder, buckethead,” she snarled. The Stormtrooper had no chance. Her fist connected with his helmet with a loud SMACK, and he stumbled back as it blanged to the floor. 

“Blast it!” he shouted, turning to glower at her. Ahsoka reeled back. 

He wasn’t quite a clone, but he was close enough. She pictured, briefly, Rex’s face instead, distracted enough that she didn’t notice the blaster slamming into her skull until it was too late, a blossom of new pain spreading across her temple as once more, she hit the ground. Dimly, she could hear Buddy shrieking, and more Stormtrooper footsteps, loud and painful, her forehead pressed hard into the cold, polished metal. 

Then the cold again. The presence. Ahsoka’s eyes snapped open. Out of the corner of her eye, vision blurring, she watched a pair of black boots approach. Heavy, slow breathing. The Stormtroopers gone deathly silent.

“You…” she managed, before her vision blacked out, and she slumped to the floor unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since catching up on the comics, I'm probably going to include some characters from those in future chapters! And who knows, maybe I'll bend canon even more and we'll see some Rogue One faces as well...  
> I'm also not going to replay the entirety of a New Hope, since the focus of this story is Ahsoka's relationship with Luke and Leia. I'll be working through the Death Star scenes, then hopping into post-ANH territory pretty fast.  
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!


	6. Rescue: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka is trapped aboard the Death Star. Obi Wan and Luke hitch a ride with Han Solo and Chewbacca, but find their destination compromised. Leia receives news from an unknown ally, still reeling from the loss of her home planet.

There were strange dreams. No, not dreams--visions, red-hot and feverish. Nothing concrete, and when Ahsoka awoke with a gasp, there was sweat on her forehead and a cold pit in her stomach. 

The first thing she noticed was that her head hurt. She touched a hand to the lek at the back of head. She breathed a sigh of relief. Not blood. But the splitting pain was surely a sign of a minor concussion.

The second thing was her surroundings. A black room, completely devoid of any windows, and no obvious door. She was propped up on a slab against the back wall. Lightsabers gone. 

She knew he was here, without even reaching into the Force. His presence had been unmistakable, though it was different now. Ahsoka pulled her knees to her chest and closed her eyes against the white pain in her head. She was filled with a sudden sorrow. 

What had she been thinking? Of all the planets to land on, it had to be that dirt ball. She had been fine on her own. It was peaceful, even, after years of war. She’d been fine without any connections. 

She could hardly remember who she’d been twenty year ago. Who she’d been even before that. Was it happiness she remembered? Passion? The brightness of youth, combined with the promise of a future that would love her and admire her. She thought often of those times, but she’d never thought of it as good. Simpler, maybe, and bathed in the golden glow of childhood, but never happy. Now, in the cold dark of the cell, Ahsoka didn’t know how she felt. 

Leia! She’d forgotten about the Princess. She climbed to her feet, somewhat clumsily, and began to feel her way around the cell, searching for a door, a vent, anything. She had failed her mission, but maybe she could still save the princess. 

She did not want to think of the pain Leia must feel. Ahsoka shuddered. The aching emptiness in her stomach started to creep again, and she shook her head. 

“Snap out of it, Tano,” she hissed to herself, continuing to shuffle along the wall. “People need you right now.” 

Absentmindedly, she hoped Buddy was alright. She had a very bad feeling about this.

....

The Lars’ were dead. Obi Wan had watched Luke stand in front of the remains of his childhood home, a plume of smoke cutting a harsh line against the blue-brown of the Tatooine landscape. 

He wished he could feel more mournful. Begrudgingly, Owen had come to tolerate Obi Wan’s phantom presence. After all, he’d saved his family several times from everything from Tusken Raiders to Jabba’s water-thieving goons. Beru had never harbored much towards him but a certain sadness. Obi Wan knew he reminded her of Anakin. 

He’d gone to stand beside Luke, unsure what to do or say. He’d told countless families bad news during the Clone Wars, but here, he was out of his element. It wasn’t like they had ever been close--Obi Wan was just “Ben” to Luke, the crazy old wizard who’d he’d been strictly forbidden to talk to for most of his life, but Obi Wan had watched over Luke every step of his life. 

Eventually, he’d reached a hand out and placed it on Luke’s shoulder. They stood there silently, neither looking at the other. C3PO and R2D2 had hung back by the speeder, uncharacteristically quiet. 

“I want to go to Alderaan,” Luke had said, finally. “There’s nothing here for me now.” 

Obi Wan had only nodded. 

Now, he sat in the crowded cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, staring at the wreckage of Alderaan. Now, he allowed himself to mourn. 

In the pilot’s seat, Han Solo yanked at the controls, shouting commands to his Wookie co-pilot, the Falcon drunkenly dodging asteroids and flotsam. 

“Can’t you be more careful?” Luke squawked as the ship scraped against a particularly large rock, sending them all careening to the side. 

“Shut it, kid!” Solo yelled back, not bothering to look. “This is hard enough without you and the old man breaking my concentration!”

“You signed up for it!” Luke answered indignantly. “And don’t call me ‘kid’!”

Obi Wan straightened himself up, calculating in his head. Ahsoka must have never made it to Alderaan. Luke had received Leia’s transmission through Artoo a mere day after she had left, and it hadn’t even been another day since they’d left Tatooine. She’d promised to send a message the moment she’d arrived. 

With all the screaming emptiness of losing Alderaan, Obi Wan could not pick her energy out of the Force. Of course, if she had survived somehow, she was most likely far enough away for her signature to even register, even as strong as Obi Wan was. Yes, he decided, halfway listening to Luke and Solo’s loud bickering, that must be it. 

She couldn’t be gone. Not her, too. Not when he’d just gotten her back. 

“Hold up,” Solo said, solemn all of a sudden. “I’m picking something up on the radar. A TIE fighter.”

“What? Did they follow us out of Mos Eisley?” Luke leaned over the pilot’s seat. Solo pushed him off with an elbow.

“No, a fighter like that couldn’t make it all the way out here alone. Unless it’s lost.”

Chewbacca let out a rumble.  
Solo nodded. 

“I agree, buddy. If we take it out now, we’ll stay under the radar. There must be a Star Destroyer out here somewhere.”

“It’s heading towards that moon,” Luke pointed out the blaster-burned cockpit window. There, sure enough, was a small gray sphere. Obi Wan frowned. He didn’t remember Alderaan having a moon at these coordinates. 

There was something wrong here. 

....

In the darkness of her cell, Leia Organa told herself not to cry. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. 

It hadn’t really hit her yet. She wasn’t feeling the overwhelming wave of emotions she’d fought so hard to control when she was a child. Instead, she felt numb. Dissociative. Like she was a ghost, detached from her body. 

She tried concentrating on the cold metal underneath her, the quiet hum of the machinery beneath her, but it only made her feel worse. Ever since she’d been brought aboard, she’d felt nothing but a queasy uneasiness. Not the usual anxiety. Not even the panic of being attacked by Imperial forces. No, this was different. Supernatural, almost. 

LEIA?

Leia jolted upwards, banging her shoulder on the wall with a smack. 

“Ow! Damn it…” 

LEIA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?

“Who…?” Leia tried out loud. Her voice as rusty and halting. Grief caught in her throat. 

A FRIEND. I CAN’T TALK LONG. I THINK THEY’VE DONE SOMETHING TO ME. IT’S HARDER TO CONNECT TO THE FORCE IN HERE, BUT I KNEW I COULD FIND YOU, IF I TRIED.

“The Force?”

HUSH. DON’T ANSWER. WE DON’T WANT HIM HEARING US.

Vader. Leia knew this, at least. She nodded, then, realizing the stupidity of this, remained silent, expectantly. 

GOOD, the voice said after a moment. It was vaguely feminine, tinged with authority. I NEED YOU TO LISTEN CLOSELY. I’M GOING TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE, BUT WE CAN’T LEAVE UNTIL HELP ARRIVES. IT WON’T BE EASY, BUT WE HAVE TO TRY.

Help? Leia frowned, folding her knees into her chest. What help was there now, when everything she’d known and loved was gone? No, she thought, shaking her head. This wasn’t the time for thoughts like that. She needed to concentrate. 

I CAN’T SAY THEIR NAMES, IN CASE HE HEARS ME, BUT YOU CAN TRUST THEM. MORE THAN YOU KNOW. JUST...JUST HANG ON. I’LL BE THERE SOON, AND SO WILL THEY. Then, softer: I KNOW YOU’RE HURTING, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE STRONG. 

Now, Leia felt the emotions. They swelled in her chest, threatening to overflow, and her breath was caught in her throat as she let out a shaking sob. 

“Okay,” she whispered. 

There was a beat, and the voice was silent. When it returned, it was softer, almost wistful, and Leia thought perhaps a it was little closer than it had been before.

OH, it said. YOU’RE JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER.

And then it was gone, and she was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks. Sorry for the very late and kind of short update. I've been very busy with school and have had lots of work and family business. Thanks for sticking with me! The good news is I have more time now, and will hopefully get back to posting on schedule.


	7. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke, Han, and Chewie locate the princess. Leia makes a discovery about herself.

Ahsoka could sense Vader’s presence fading. He was moving away, his focus no longer on her or the princess. There was something else pulling his attention away. 

Obi Wan. She knew it even before she felt it. Part of her felt relieved. Of course he would find her. 

And yet, the more sensible part of her felt only fear. Everything Obi Wan had worked to stop was happening at once. Anakin Skywalker’s children, aboard the Death Star, and his former apprentice helpless. Worse, his master, ready to sacrifice himself for them all. 

She stood, now restless, all her Jedi-trained calm gone. Stood up, banged a fist on the wall. Her knuckles stung. Ahsoka found herself focusing on the pain, reigning her senses back in. She needed to think, needed to plan. She needed to escape. 

.....

 

Leia was strong. She’d lasted this long, the death of her planet still fresh in her memory. Her parents had taught her that emotions did not make her weak--they made her resilient, resourceful. Cunning. Ruthless, if she needed to be. A survivor.

She paced her cell. The sadness she’d felt earlier had been replaced by a restless anger, and she clenched and unclenched her fists, mind racing. The voice from before was gone, but Leia could still hear it. She tried to conjure up the tone of it, the lilt--was there anyone she knew who sounded like that? Anyone she had met, even briefly, even years ago? 

The woman had mentioned her mother. Had she known her from Alderaan? Was she an Alderaanian? Now, Leia’s heart leapt, and she paced quicker and quicker. It was cold in the cell, but she did not feel it. In fact, it felt much warmer than it had in hours, as if there was something shifting the very fabric of the air.

She paused. Like a shadow in the corner of her vision, Leia felt something. A shape in her subconscious, bright, and hot, but faint. No--two, three, four of them. 

She reached out to touch the cool metal of the wall, head spinning. 

“How…” she muttered to herself, distantly. 

Somewhere, underneath the anger and the grief, still raw as a vicious burn, underneath all the emotion, she had always known. 

.....

Han Solo hadn’t signed up for this. He hadn’t signed up for ferrying an old man and a farmboy with delusions of grandeur into dangerous space. He hadn’t signed up for rescuing princesses, either, and he certainly hadn’t signed up for sneaking aboard the largest Imperial space station he had ever seen in shoddy Stormtrooper disguises. 

He knew three things for sure. One, that Jabba was going to kill him if he ever made it back on solid ground. Two, that if they did find this princess, she had better be a rich one. And three, if he had to listen to Luke for a minute longer, he was going to throw him into the reactor. 

“It’s not that it’s a bad idea,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest (a feat difficult in the clunky Stormtrooper gauntlets) and fixing a frown on his face. “It’s that I don’t want to do it. I’m staying here. You can go get yourself killed if you like, as long as Chewie and I get our payment.”

“Oh, that’s real brave of you,” Luke snapped back. He’d lost the wide-eyed curiosity. Now, he looked anxious and impatient. “Ben is risking his life out there, and you want to stay in the control room.”

“Look, kid, if I had known we were going to be neck deep in poorly planned espionage, I would have turned you and that crazy old man down back on the dustball you came from.”

Luke’s face fell. He took a small step backwards. Han felt a pang of guilt, and he looked nervously towards Chewbacca and the droids. 

“You don’t get it, do you?” Luke said, quietly, before Han could open his mouth. “He’s all I have left. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” 

Han didn’t say anything. He dragged a hand through his hair. One of the droids was beeping, something unintelligible and unimportant. He hadn’t even thought of what kind of life the two had left behind on Tatooine. Who they had been. Why Luke could see through the blast shield of an old helmet and why the old man could feel the death of thousands the instant they vanished. 

Of course, Han had been alone before, too. He glanced at Chewbacca. 

Luke was no longer looking at him. Instead, he was saying something to the protocol droid, the two of them bent over one of the consoles, muttering. 

“Hey,” Han pushed his way between them, shoving aside whatever half-sentimental thoughts he’d been dangerously close to swimming in. “What’s going on?”

“The princess!” Luke smiled, smacking Han’s shoulder excitedly. “We found where she is!” 

.....

It took longer than Ahsoka expected to pry the door open. It was standard Imperial fare, with a control panel in the main entrance, but her mind was frayed and distracted. She dragged it upwards after a few strenuous minutes, then allowed herself to collapse to one knee, breathing heavy. 

“Wake up, Tano,” she hissed, forcing herself back to her feet. There were sure to be guards nearby. If she could only find her lightsabers…

Sure enough, as she peered around the corner of her cell’s threshold, forcing her hands steady at her side, she could make out the control panels of the cell block several yards away. The hallway was thin and dark, cold air stagnant. She took a deep breath. Readied herself.

Just as Ahsoka was to leap out, fists bared, there was a whoosh of a door opening, and the sound of three more sets of footsteps. The tinny voice of one of the Stormtroopers, and then--

Was that a Wookie? 

Ahsoka dove back into her cell as the hall filled with blaster fire. It was over nearly as quickly as it had begun, however. Now, two voices, arguing. One, she didn’t recognize. Ahsoka listened as the unidentified man conversed with the Wookie, heart pounding. But the other--

“Luke!” She shouted it before she could help herself, scrambling out of the cell with less grace than she would normally have allowed. “The princess, she’s--hey!” Ahsoka dodged two blaster shots, slamming back against the wall of the hallway. “Watch where you’re shooting!”

Luke was tugging down the arm of a dark-haired man, a relieved smile on his face. 

“Ahsoka!” he shouted, taking a short step forward. “Han, it’s okay, I know her. She’s an old friend of Ben’s.”

“Oh, great,” Han rolled his eyes, shooting the Wookie a look. “Another one.”

“Luke, we don’t have much time. The princess is here, in one of these cells. We’ll just need to find which one,” she paused. “You didn’t happen to see a pair of--”

He still didn’t know, she realized. He knew her only as the strange woman who had crash-landed into his hometown with a busted up astromech and no plans in particular. 

“You’re like him,” Luke said before she could do anything. “I know. I could tell, somehow.”

She smiled, softly. Of course. Behind Luke, Han, was fiddling with the comm device on the control panel. After a moment of awkward fibbing, he leaned back, and landed a blaster shot into it, sending sparks flying. 

“Luke! And...whoever you are,” he shouted, waving his blaster towards them. “We’re gonna have company!”

Luke nodded, rushing past Ahsoka into the hall. He seemed to be searching, and Ahsoka jogged after him, reaching out into the Force as she went, trying to find Leia’s signature. Luke stopped short suddenly. 

“She’s here,” he said, pointing to a door directly to their left. But before either of them could do anything, the door shot open, sending the both of them stumbling back in surprise. 

Leia Organa stood in the doorway, hair slightly out of place, one hand outstretched and a shocked look on her face. She was small, dark-haired, and wearing the same white-and-silver as her adoptive parents. 

“Oh,” she said. “It’s about time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this is late (and a bit short). Hope you enjoy! (And thank you for the lovely comment, user Kimauki, it was just what I needed to finish this chapter!) Much more to come soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Will be updated when time allows. I'm a full-time college student, so we'll see how quickly I can get them up! No more than a month between updates, I promise! Next update will be in a day or two, since I have a few chapters written. Thank you, and have a wonderful day!


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